New Year's in New York

Here's a tip for anyone from anywhere coming to New York:

To avoid tourist heartburn/heartbreak and expensive disappointment, please avoid the Carnegie Deli. And the Stage Delicatessen. They are famous, certainly, but cater almost exclusively to tourists.

Rather, if you want some authentic deli, please visit Katz's down on Houston Street. Or the 2nd Avenue Deli, which has relocated uptown.

http://www.katzdeli.com/

http://nymag.com/listings/restaurant/second_avenue_deli/

 

Here's a makegood on gangland restaurant rub outs. While the Godfather restaurant was fiction, you can visit Umberto's Clam House to see where they shot Crazy Joey Gallo to death; or Spark's steakhouse uptown to check out the red carpet where they whacked Paul Castillano.

Beyond the morbid history, Spark's is a pretty good steakhouse. Expensive. Do not, however, eat at Umberto's. Do not. Even your extensive survival training can't prepare you for food that bad.

http://nymag.com/daily/food/2007/03/cheese_echo_echo_echophoto_dan_1.html

http://nymag.com/news/articles/03/03/35th/crazedcity/crimes/2.htm

 

Umberto's was supervised for the feds for a while. You can imagine what that meant. I think Ragu outbid Prego for the sauce contract.

 

I had corned beef sandwiches from 2nd Avenue and the Carnegie on the same trip recently. The Carnegie's was superior by a margin that wasn't even close.

I know New Yorkers delight in dismissing the Carnegie as a tourist place, and I wouldn't recommend any other item. I always get my sandwich to take out. But the CB sandwich absolutely kicks ass.

 

I love New York but I'd rather be dropped into boiling oil than be anywhere near Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Not for New Year's Eve but make a reservation at The Union Square Cafe. Still one of the best (and affordable restaurants in NYC). It was a groundbreaking restaurant when it opened about 20 years ago

I've been there two or three times and it's one of those rare places that hasn't compromised on qualilty or food over the years despite its popularity. I think they take reservations about a month in advance.

In some foodie circles it's the Chez Panisse of the East Coast.

 

I haven't eaten at the 2nd Ave deli since they reopened, so can't speak to the current corned beef. And I think Katz's is the far superior local experience in any case. But I'd ask how much you spent on that sammich at the Carnegie.

 

$13.95, same as Katz's, 20 cents more than 2nd Avenue.

 

The New York intelligencia would dismiss The Sistine Chapel as too touristy if it were in Manhattan.

 

I'd certainly be interested in seeing a list of your favorite joints, Boom. If you don't mind, that is.

 

Be careful what you wish for. 8)

 

The main objections to restaurants geared to tourists is that you usually get less value for your money, you'll be treated like livestock and the food won't be especially memorable. But that's the case in every city that has a lot of tourism.

 

I don't think that's true, Boom. New Yorkers don't mock singularities, or steer tourists away from things which must be seen because they're one of a kind. We don't tell people not to go to the top of the Empire State Building, or sail out to see the Statue of Liberty. What New Yorkers will do, though, and avidly, is argue over which version of something is better than another version of the same thing. The Carnegie/Stage/Katz's/2nd Avenue argument, for example - like a Clemente/Dimaggio/Mantle/Musial argument - is essentially unwinnable. Who has the better pastrami, or matzoh ball, is almost entirely philosophical not factual.

I steer people away from the Carnegie because in all my time here I've never met a local who actually eats there. Doesn't mean it's not good, it just means it's not part of the local rotation.

And we can have the same argument about bagels and pizza and cheesecake and burgers and steaks and seafood and Italian and Indian and Chinese food and on and on and on. I'll tell visitors to hold out for an Ess-a-bagel because I'm an Ess-a-bagel man. Others prefer H & H. Some would rather go down to Kossar's for a bialy. Same thing with pizza. You can argue Lombardi's versus Totonno's versus Grimaldi's and never reach a universal conclusion.

And from what tbf specified, he'd rather go a little off the beaten tourist path. So rather than send him places where he's likely to be seated with a lot of other folks from out of town, I was simply trying to steer him toward some of the places the locals cherish.